The Jess Humphrey Interview
When and where were you born? Are you originally from Norfolk, Va? What was growing up like for you? When did you first begin to have a fascination with music, art and photography? Were the elements relevant around your household growing up? Were your parents, or close relatives creative? Do you have any siblings?
I was born in Portsmouth, VA in November of 1977. I grew up in Virginia Beach until I was about 8 years old and then moved to Norfolk. My mother was only 17 when she had me, so she is more of an older sister than a mom. Having such young parents was definitely different. We didn’t have much money and babysitters weren’t really in the budget, so for the most part, I went everywhere my parents did. My dad was always really into music. He took me to my first punk show at a venue in Virginia Beach called “The Wave” when I was 5. It was the first time I saw breakdancing and I remember thinking that was really cool. The Wave had a little secret room above the bar, so when I got tired, the owner would let me sleep up there while the night went on. My parents got divorced when I was 6, so then it was just me and my very young, hot, single mom. When we moved to Norfolk when I was 8, she got involved in the music scene there. I went to shows at The Kings Head Inn, Cogans, and Dominics and saw so many cool bands growing up with my mom.
She ended up marrying the drummer from a post-punk band from Norfolk called Antic Hay. So, I essentially grew up going to shows. I can’t really remember a time music wasn’t at the center of my life. I think it was just natural for me to end up involved in another music scene. For most people, going to punk and hardcore shows was a form of rebellion, for me it was just what I was raised to do. As far as art and photography, I was always an artist. I was always involved in some arts after-school program and went to an Arts Magnet School (kind of like FAME) for all of High School. My interest in photography came around 8th grade. I can’t actually remember where the spark came from, but I was obsessed with getting a decent camera. My dad gave me a Canon SLR for my 15th birthday and that’s when I started taking photos at shows. I think the first show I ever took photos of was Shudder to Think at the Kings Head Inn in 1993. You can barely see the band in the photo, only the heads of the boys standing in front of me.
What groups/artists/photographers left a huge impression on you early on? What would you and your friends do for fun in those early days? What was high school like for you? Tell me about moving to Washington, DC during one of the most impactful moments in American music. What was that experience like for you?
Before I started going to hardcore shows around 1992, I was in middle school and was more involved in the art and skate scene. My favorite band growing up was Echo & The Bunnymen. I think I was actually in love with Ian McCullough and would listen to Ocean Rain over and over again. I was also a huge Smiths fan. On my walk home from school, I’d stop at the local record store Skinny’s, then probably go watch boys skate. On the weekends, we hung out at a local art movie house called The Naro. On Friday’s at midnight, they showed The Rocky Horror Picture Show. We usually never went inside..instead, we ate acid (oops, sorry mom) and just hung out. In high school, I was an overachiever. I was straight edge, on the honor roll and split my time doing academics in the morning from 7:30-11, and then off to art school at the local University from 12-4. Starting in 10th grade, I started driving out of town to hardcore shows on the weekends. On more than one occasion, I would go to a matinee at CBGB, then to another show somewhere else in NYC, like The Wetlands or Brownies or ABC NO RIO, then drive through the night and go straight to school in the morning. I’d drive 13+ hours to go to shows in
Ohio, or Connecticut or even got onto an airplane (without telling my mom..again, sorry mom) to go to a show in Boston. When me and my friends weren’t trekking all over the map, we set up shows in basements and old abandoned theatres, cooked Vegan food for Food Not Bombs, made fanzines, and were involved in some pro-vegan and anti-racism groups. We weren’t always good kids though… We had this terrible thing called “The Rukus.” My friend Bob Jones, who was a little bit older, would pick us all up and we would looking for the most red-neck looking guy and essentially fuck with him enough to get them to chase us. Someone would maybe slingshot mustard into his confederate flag adorned, bigger-than-life Ford pick-up truck as bait, and then, he would be so enraged that would spend hours chasing us around Virginia Beach. I’m surprised no one pulled a shotgun on us…
Fugazi performing at Club 180 in Hagerstown, MD circa: 1998
Fugazi with Guy Picciotto at Teamsters Union Hall circa: 1996.
Especially since in those days, it was normal in the South for shotguns to be hung in dplainsite in someone’s truck cab. So, after high school, I didn’t go to the two art schools I got scholarships to, instead, I stayed in Norfolk to take care of my dad who was struggling with a drug addiction. I went to a local university for a couple of years, then dropped out of school and moved to DC. I got a job at a health food co-op in Tacoma Park, was a regular at Glenn E. Friedman’s New Alaska Film Society at the Black Cat, and spent Sundays at the National Gallery visiting my favorite Mark Rothko painting. I had a dark room set up in my basement. It was a very sweet time in my life. The music scene in DC was evolving at that time. Fugazi released Red Medicine and bands with more of a soul and garage influence like the Make-Up and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion starting changing the sound of punk/hardcore music. It was a very exciting moment in DC to be a part of.
What led to the decision to move Boston where you single handedly documented and beautifully, the hardcore scene there? How did this time not only have an impact on your work, but your life as well? You moved to NYC in the early 2000’s, correct? Can you tell me about that? Have you always let your work carry you through life and these different locations?
Yeah, I think my interests have always led me through my career path. I was vegan all through high school and when I lived in DC, I got a job at a health food co-op (Tacoma Park Silver Spring Co-Op). After a couple of years of being on the board and being involved in the local co-op association, I was offered a job as a merchandiser for a Natural Foods company. They gave me a company car to drive around the east coast opening up Whole Foods, which was perfect because I was already driving around the east coast going to shows. Their headquarters were just outside of Boston, so I moved there in 1998. Some of my closest friends were living there at the time and there were so many bands, Ten Yard Fight, In My Eyes, Fastbreak, etc so moving to Boston felt like a natural decision. I think living in Boston was the first time I felt like I not only fit in, but could be a kid. I was away from my parents who I did a lot of care taking for and just broke up with my long time boyfriend, so I think it was the first time I felt like I could be myself.
Sunday Matinee at CBGB circa: 1996.
AF Maxwells.
Damian from In My Eyes/ The Explosion was one of my early friends in hardcore. He convinced me one night to go dancing at an 80s night at Man Ray. I’d never been dancing before and was so shy that I was paralyzed with fear of being awkward. I got over it quickly and after that I was out dancing 5-6 times a week to whatever mod night or 80s night. Around that time, I started collecting records and diving into more diverse sounds, psychedelic, electronic, ambient, folk, etc. I think Boston was really special during that era because so many talented people cross paths. The punk and hardcore scene was at it’s height in Boston in the late 90s, but beyond that, there were so many other things happening that would come to influence art and subculture for generations. Once in NYC you began a career in fashion. Can you tell me about that and how this all came about? Did you start your very own company, Victory Press? Did you continue to shoot 35mm photography in the fashion industry, or did you completely shift your focus all together?
Humphrey’s artwork outside of shooting photography.
I moved to New York right after 9/11. I had an internship for a record label called Astralwerks and thought I wanted to be in A+R since everything I ever knew was music. I didn’t like the business side very much, so I got a job at a specialty vintage boutique owned by Ralph Lauren called RRL. A designer who shopped at RRL for vintage inspiration said I had a really good eye for fashion and recommended me for my first job designing denim. I had no real idea that I would end up as a fashion designer and that would be the beginning of my 20 year career in fashion. I worked for a ton of companies over the years, including one owned by the Olsen Twins which was so surreal. Mary Kate would come into my office on the 8th floor in midtown, open the giant window, pull out her pack of Marlboro Reds and talk about boys. My last corporate job in fashion was as a design director at Ralph Lauren and in 2015, I left to start my own company Victory Press, which was heavily influenced by my roots in skate and punk culture. I was still taking 35 mm photos on my Leica and my boyfriend’s Yashica D, but only of my life and friends. (Which I think could make for a cool photo book one day!)
Boston circa: 2001.
What have you been up to in more recent years? I understand you’ve taken an interest in collages and glasswork. Are you currently working on anything? How have you been during the pandemic both as a person and artist? Have you managed to stay positive and creative during this tremendously dark time?
I stopped working on Victory Press in 2015 and moved to California for a stint and took some time in LA and Malibu to regroup. I learned how to garden, was a terrible surfer, did a lot of hiking and camping and learned how to feel comfortable with myself. The pandemic has been a wild wild ride! I’ve been staying fairly positive! I like spending time with myself, so a part of me was relieved for the slow down. I think for a lot of people, the pause helped us assess our priorities. My biggest takeaways from the pandemic were that I needed to be closer to my mom and that I am an artist. I moved back to New York in January of 21 and shifted my focus to solely making art. I do a lot of collage work and recently have been working with glass. I feel as obsessed with glass as I did with taking photos back in the day. I live in Ridgewood, Queens and have two floors of a brownstone, the bottom floor being my studio. Life is good!
Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?
It’s been a dream of mine to make a book of my hardcore photos since I was a teenager. I’m working on it now, which is so exciting! Going through my boxes of photos really gave me a new appreciation for that time. It was right before the internet, before digital cameras, before google maps and social media. We found each other and made things happen and that was magical. I am so grateful to have been a part of it.
https://hardcoregirleditions.com/
https://www.instagram.com/i_used_to_be_a_hardcore_girl/
Dakota Brown
